


Time and Again

by Mythos43213



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-09-28 00:22:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10058822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mythos43213/pseuds/Mythos43213
Summary: The War of the Diamonds is over.Steven has been gone a long time, far from home. When he returns...what awaits? And who awaits him?





	1. Chapter 1

Time And Again  
A Steven Universe Fanfic  
By  
Joshua Trujillo

Part 1

It had been a long time since he was home. A long time. For all their scientific advances, the Gems were bad at time compression. Steven knew he'd been gone a lot longer than Garnet said, though, for the last couple of years, Garnet hadn't said much to him.

...he tried to chock it up to having grown into a body somewhat resembling his mother, though, he was a guy. But...big. Like, he was about as tall as Garnet herself, hair black and curled, like his mothers', his own gem prominent in his battle suit. He still had a bit of a gut, but according to Pearl, that would just have to be a thing because he was also massively strong. Stronger than even Sugilite. That frightened him a little, but he needed that strength in the battles that had happened.

With the Diamonds. And their...Quartzes...

Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst, and himself had gone across many worlds in the fight against the Diamonds. In turn, they had picked up allies all along the way. Different worlds created different gems, all of them wanting to be free of the yoke of the Diamonds, who, in turn, became more and more desperate to hold on to power.

Steven looked at the shifted, iridescent surface around him. The transport from Homeworld to Earth always took forever...

When the Diamonds first attacked Earth, he and the Gems had been able to fight them off enough to stop them from destroying Earth, but they all realized that, if they didn't follow up and take the fight out here into space that the Diamonds would eventually return and their defense, which had taken almost everything, would have been for naught. The Diamonds were hard creatures. Naturally hard, not only in attitude, but in body and mind. Steven had thought he might be able to reason with Blue, but he had been wrong and it had almost cost him his life.

Garnet's Army, as it had come to be called, grew with every world. Soon, hundreds and thousands of gems joined in. Such variety that Steven could hardly keep track. Truly a rainbow coalition. Garnet always gave him a smirk when he'd said that.

...the final battle occurred on Homeworld and he couldn't bring himself to shatter them. Blue took her own gem life and shattered herself. White Diamond had been taken out and bubbled by Garnet and Amethyst. He and Pearl had confronted Yellow Diamond. The last. The hardest. In the end, he poofed her and Pearl bubbled her.

"Anxious about seeing your home again?"

Steven jerked out of his thoughts and smiled at the thin gem to his left. Amber. She had come from a gem world where trees had survived the burrowing of the Diamonds. A huge world that, in some spots, reminded Steven of home. If you could ignore the holes, there were wide vistas and golden sunsets. Sweet, powder white sand beaches and a surprising diversity of life. The gems converted the fossilized sap of the trees and Ambers came out, some crystal clear and flashing in the sunlight like statues made of honey, to ones a creamy yellow, almost milky in color. And every shade and style in between. All of them...oddly soft. Almost human soft, to Steven's touch. They hadn't been out of their kindergarten for very long before the Gems arrived and liberated their planet. Most of the Ambers had chosen some form of short dress that allowed for maximum movement in a fight. Those that chose to fight for the Quartzes were horribly quick and gave Steven a number of scars.

This Amber, a swirling mixture of the clear and milky, had fought at his side against the Quartzes. Steven felt she...

"Yeah," he chuckled and scratched his face shyly. "It's been so long since I was home...I mean, I know dad wouldn't have lived this long, but then Pearl said something about the time compression of the gates-"

"I never understood that."

Amethyst stood in front of Steven. She leaned back slightly, resting against him.

"Me neither, honestly," he said down at her. "But Pearl knows about that kind of thing. You know I trust her."

Amethyst only nodded slightly.

"Well, I *do* know about that kind of thing, Steven," Peridot said to his right. "We'll get back in Greg's lifetime. There's nothing to say that he couldn't have lived this long, you know?"

"Assuming another gem hasn't tossed him off the barn roof again?"

Amber's eyes grew big and it raised a chuckle from Amethyst. Peridot growled.

"I apologized for that!" She huffed and crossed her arms. "Besides, how would I know that he couldn't fly?! Lapis could!"

Amethyst. Peridot. Amber. Seven Universe. They were the ones that had gotten on the transport to return to Earth. The Rubies had left a ship on Earth so that Amethyst could head out and see her family on the Zoo. They were tasked with protecting the humans there, since they couldn't ever be brought home again. Captivity for too long ruins humans apparently. Who knew?

Peridot had been asked to set up a Tech base and communications station between Earth and Homeworld. The base on the moon had been destroyed in the first battle, unfortunately. Plus, she'd said that her home was now Earth and who could deny her?

Amber had become, in the latter half of the war, Steven's stalwart bodyguard and close friend. And...

...there had never been any question that she would be coming back to Earth with him.

The stop came suddenly and Steven took a breath as the pad in the temple materialized under them. Silence engulfed them as they stood there, taking it in. Amethyst sneezed.

"It's-" she sneezed again. "Dusty."

Steven stepped around her and off the pad. It was dusty. A thick layer coated everything in site. Cobwebs enveloped the rafters and his boots clicked loudly on the wood floors. Some wiggled as he stepped on them.

"Connie really hasn't been holding up her end of the bargain," Peridot groused.

"Yeah, we've been gone a long time though," Amethyst made her way to the kitchen. "For this much dirt to build up."

Something wasn't right. The long years of war had carved his senses to heights humans couldn't attain.

"No!"

He threw up his shield in front of Amber just in time to see a yellow blade skitter across the top, sliding around to clang into it again as he switched position. The fight came to him as he positioned himself between the attacker and Amber a third time. He spared a look to his right. Peridot lay across the room in a heap.

Amber came to her senses and pulled her daggers. She sliced under Steven's shield, but the attacker slid her blade upward along his shield and used it to push off in a long, golden leap backward. It allowed her to deftly avoid Amethyst's whip, that came down in a heavy crack in front of Steven and Amber.

The attacker spun around, a blur of white and gold, brilliant in the gloaming room. The tip of her golden blade rested on his shield as the rest of her resolved-

"Connie?!"

Golden strands of hair stopped flowing around her face, dark in skin tone, but unmistakeable to those that knew her. The white of the sun dress flowed to a stop around her. Her eyes glanced slowly down to the shield.

"...how do you know my name?"

Her voice...sounded a little off. Young, but not as young as Connie had been when they'd left.

"Wait!" Connie's blade faltered. "You're...Steven?!"


	2. Chapter 2

Time and Again  
A Steven Universe Fanfic  
By  
Joshua Trujillo

Part 2

She reminded him of Pearl as she sat on the sofa. Prim and proper, her back straight and her nose slightly in the air. She looked like Connie, a fact enhanced because she said that was her name, but there were differences.

Amber sat next to her on the sofa, a dagger still at the ready. Steven didn't think she would have need of it though. Connie had ceased fighting when she identified Steven and had sheathed her blade. A golden blade in a gold and white sheath. To match her gold locks and her brilliant white sundress...her skin, a lighter shade than the girl that he remembered, but still dark enough to remind him of her heritage.

"You're not Connie Maheswaran," Peridot growled from her perch behind the sofa.

Connie smirked and half turned to her.

"Perceptive as any Peridot, I suppose," she snarled. "I am not my grandmother, no."

"Grandmother?!"

She looked back to Steven, who looked slightly green. She looked confused. She also had a look of something coming close to hatred with which she afforded Steven.

"Yes, Mr. Universe," she settled back to her prim status. "Grandmother. You know, the mother of my mother?"

Steven slowly closed his eyes. He turned and lowered his head to his chest as he set his hands at his hips. The world spun slowly around him. He fought back the bile rising in his throat.

"Please, Connie," Peridot gritted her teeth as she tried to remain calm. "What year is this?"

Connie told her. Steven felt weak in the knees and held a hand to his mouth as tears fell. 104 years. They had been gone 104 years. Peridot blew out a breath.

"That explains a lot, then."

"I don't get it," Amber said, clearly distressed at Steven weeping. "Is...is that a long time for humans?"

"It's a lifetime," Connie said. "Or several."

"But you can't be our Connie!" Peridot came around to the front of the sofa. "I *gave* her that sword-!"

"No, you didn't," Connie stood and growled in return. "This sword was given to my grandmother by a Gem named Garnet! *Before* you left, Steven! I was named after her."

Connie looked down and seemed somewhat surprised that she now carried the blade. Ready to draw. She blew out a calming breath and set it upright against the sofa.

"And," she opened her eyes to Peridot. "Since you're all back, I don't have need of it anymore. You can keep-"

"No."

Amethyst came out of the shadows. She spared a sympathetic look to Steven and rubbed his back as she passed him.

"Garnet gave your grandmother that blade to protect the Earth in our absence," she said. "My name is Amethyst. I was there. Apparently, she protected the Earth like she was tasked. Keep it. The sword is yours."

Connie nodded slowly.

"Besides," Amethyst gave her a genuine smile. "You fight like a Gem."

Steven looked back and his breath caught as Connie smiled at that. The room lightened and...things seemed less tense, all of a sudden. He sniffed, wiped his eyes and sat down on the barstool at the counter.

"Thanks!" Connie said. "Grammie taught me how to fight, though we had to use Pearl's room because she was too old to spar by then."

Connie turned to Steven. A quick shudder of hatred, or maybe loathing, clouded her features. She pursed her lips and blew out a breath as...disgust...replaced it.

"She waited for you," Connie couldn't meet his gaze. "Luckily for me, she didn't wait too long."

She reached down and slung the blade over her shoulder. Connie stepped around the coffee table, staring down Peridot on her way toward the door. Peri, for her concern, growled more in return, but let her pass. Connie stopped in front of Steven, who only now realized how tall she was. Almost as tall as Amber. He almost smiled at that. His Connie had been taller as well. Steven stopped himself, knowing that she wouldn't understand his reaction.

"My name is Connie Smythe," she said. "I expect I'll see you again, Steven Universe...but don't expect me to be nice to you. Connie Maheswaran died four years ago. She died of old age wondering and hoping and wishing that you would come back and see her one more time. And now you return."

Connie Smythe shook her head and walked slowly out the door.

***


	3. Part 3

Time and Again  
A Steven Universe Fanfic  
By  
Joshua Trujillo

Part 3

~Here Lies Greg Universe~

He had always thought that his dad's tombstone, which he had prepared himself to see, would be...more grandiose than it was. It was a chunk of granite, roughly three feet high by two feet wide, that lay on the outskirts of Beach City.

Dad had never considered himself a part of the Gem universe, even though he most certainly was and, by his actions, had changed the Gems and their universe forever. His actions led to Steven being created.

Steven knelt in front of the slab. His dad had been 85 when he died. Old, Steven supposed, for a guy that never really took care of himself, even when he finally did get the money.

No epitaph had been carved on the stone. No writing, no symbol, no nothing to show how important this one man was to the fate of the Earth and the universe. Greg Universe. Steven picked some of the moss out of the letters on the stone, but didn't brush off that on the top. Dad would have wanted nature to give him a full head of hair again. Steven smiled at that.

"I did it, dad," he said. "We went all the way back to the Homeworld and we beat the Diamonds. The universe is safe from the Diamonds. And then I came back, like I said I would."

He sat down as the wind blew softly through his hair.

"I know, right?" He chuckled. "I look a lot like mom now, all buff and big hair...I can use mom's sword and shield all by myself now. Oh! Garnet's not in charge! She said that the Gems, while free, still have a lot of prejudice against fusions."

Steven sniffed and rubbed his nose.

"I don't get it either. I mean, Garnet is easily qualified to run things, but she said that she would have to be unfused to be taken seriously and she never wanted that. So, she put Pearl in charge. Pearl is now Queen of the Gems!"

"You should have seen her, dad," he continued. "She was awful at first, but then Bismuth got in her face and she got into the role. I was afraid that Jasper would have wanted to become monarch, but she said that she'd had enough of command. That she wanted something more. She changed from when we unbubbled her and healed her. We're all different..."

"I'm different...Peridot's kinda different. She still likes to play the clown, but she's a lot more tech minded now. Amethyst is really different. Older? Nah...um..." Steven scratched his head. "Mature! That's the word. Lion stayed there. Pearl is in charge. Garnet, Bismuth, Jasper...the rubies..."

"But we made new friends too!" Steven smiled. "Jet and Coral! The Aquamarines!...Amber-"

Steven blushed.

"I mean...THE Ambers...all of them!" he huffed out. "Well, most of them. Some of the Gems went with the Diamonds no matter what. Pearl said that seeing me in charge was hard for many of them to accept. I was as much a freak as Garnet. We won though."

Steven let the warm wind of his homeworld blow through his hair. His thoughts turned dark again.

"...sorry we took so long, dad," he said. "We did what we had to do. And then I came home. But everybody's gone. You, Connie, everyone in town. Geez dad, the town itself! What happened?!"

He looked to his left, down the hill toward Beach City. The gouge where the city once sat now ran much deeper. He could see boats park in the middle, docked sailboats rising colorfully there, the Temple mount and that side of the city now an island. The town had grown on the other side, but not by much. He would have thought that a hundred years would show more...but it really hadn't...

Steven leaned in to the headstone and set a kiss on the bare stone.

"Miss you, dad," he said quietly. "Love ya and I miss ya."

A slightly rustle off to his right made him smirk slightly. All he saw was a trailing flash of gold and white. He didn't know how long she'd been listening, but he knew she was there. Now...he wondered why...

"See ya later, dad."


End file.
